Cheydinhal Recommendation
Background As part of Join the Mages Guild, you must get a recommendation from each city's Mages Guild Hall. You will then be granted admission into the Arcane University, the Chironasium and the Praxographical Center respectively. These two rooms of the Arcane University allow you to Enchant clothing, jewelry, weapons, and Spellcrafting. Walkthrough Falcar, the head of the Cheydinhal Mages Guild, will send you to find a Ring of Burden in a well behind the Cheydinhal Mages Guild. He tells you to talk to Deetsan first for the key to the well. To talk to Deetsan, Falcar cannot be around. She tells you of a prior associate, Vidkun, sent to fulfill the same task, who never returned. When you enter the well, you will be submerged in water the entire time, so you will need to be quick about it, cast Water Breathing, use the spell Buoyancy (provided by Deetsan), or simply wear the Jewel of the Rumare or Fin Gleam, or some other article of clothing enchanted with water breathing. Off to the right will be the former associate's floating body. Search it and the Ring of Burden will be in his possession. It is recommended that you go to a merchant first or bring along a spell of feather as the ring is 150 , so you may easily become encumbered beneath the water. A time consuming, but simple method is to pick up the ring and then quickly drop it. It is possible to walk while grabbing it to the well exit, pick up the ring and exit the well. Then you can drop it again and carry it to the Mages guild. Another proven method is to dump the majority of your pack outside the well and come back for it later. However, be sure not to lose precious potions, ingredients, or anything else dark or small. You can also dump your items into a chest in the Mages Guild, and then loot all and not risk losing anything. When you go to return the ring, Falcar will be gone and Deetsan will tell you of a confrontation she had with him. She will give you a chance to investigate his room to check whether he really did write a recommendation for you. Upon searching Falcar's drawers in the living quarters, you will find two special Black Soul Gems (these can't be used in quest "Vaermina"), one of the tools of the dark arts: necromancy. Return those to Deetsan, while keeping any loot you may find (nobody is around to see you steal, so that gives you even more incentive to do what you want to do so badly), and she will write your recommendation for you, and mysteriously claim that "things are far worse then I thought." Notes * If you are playing as an Argonian, you will not need to use the "buoyancy" spell as you will already be able to breathe underwater. * Because the game removes corpses after 3 days, the corpse in the well will be gone after this time. It is therefore very important that you do this quest within 3 game days after you are given it, as once the corpse is removed you will not be able to complete it. (This bug has been fixed by the current patch). * If Falcar does not come out of his room, simply go to a bed downstairs and have a nap (1 hour will do). When you wake, Falcar will be just exiting his room. Another way to get the ring out of the well regardless of your ability to carry it, is by using a slight exploit of the grab function. Once you find the ring on the body, drop it. Now, instead of picking up the ring, grab it (default key on PC is Z and on X360 is the left bumper) and swim over to the exit ladder. If you go too quickly, you might lose your grip on the ring. Once you get to the ladder, actually pick up the ring into your inventory. With the ring in your inventory, use the exit ladder; it doesn't matter if you're over-encumbered. Once outside, repeat the process of dropping, grabbing, moving to where you need to go, picking up the ring, and using the door. (Note this method can be used for absolutely anything.) Trivia *Two members of the Cheydinhal Mages Guild may discuss how the well water "tastes strange". *A Nirnroot can be found inside the well, which, if you haven't already started the quest Seeking Your Roots, will trigger by giving you the topic of Nirnroot while in dialogue with certain characters. *The Ring of Burden is actually very rare and unique, as there is no other such rings in the entire game. So keep the ring as you will not find another ring like it. If you have a house you can put it in one of the containers, or in a display case, if you would like to show it off, if your house has one. Alternatively if you would rather keep it to yourself put it in a container where it cannot be seen.